Koshino took a deep breath before picking up the telepone and began dialing a number. After a while someone from the other line answered, "Moshi moshi."

"Hey, Chris?"

"...Hiroaki? Where were you? I called you lots of times."

"Ummm...."

"Nevermind. I've got time. Let's go to the movies."

Koshino looked towards another young man sitting next to him who was listening in on their conversation with another telephone, with question. The young man held out his hand as a signal to go on.

"Iie. I don't want to see a movie," Koshino told Chris.

"We'll have dinner then. Meet me in front of my office," Chris said.

"I don't know," said Koshino instead, "How about we meet in another place? I want Indian food."

Mitsui smiled and gave Koshino a thumb up.

"What's so good about curry?" huffed Chris, "Let's have pizza."

When Mitsui saw that Koshino was about to falter, he made furious gestures, not wanting the young man to back down from their plan. When Koshino went on talking he was proud to note that the voice from the young man still retained it's note of carelessness.
"Then forget it. We'll talk later then, okay?"

Chris sighed, "Fine. We'll go eat Indian food. Where shall I meet you?"

"Seven-thirty tonight at this Indian restaurant beside the Kanagawa Cafe," Koshino replied, "I'll see you there."

Before Chris could reply, Mitsui had already made Koshino hang up.

"Don't worry," said the scarred-face man, "These type of guys are like this. The nicer you are to them, the more they take things for granted. You should have more self-respect - and know how to create surprises. Let's go."

Koshino blinked, "Are? It's still early. The date's not till 7.30."

"I'm going to help you with your wardrobe," Mitsui said, gesturing to the choice of clothes Koshino has on which were a plain white-collared shirt, a black suit and a grey tie.

Koshino arched an eyebrow and said in a flat voice, "You are not going to turn me into a scantily-clad pretty boy. I may be gay but I'm not that type of guy."

"I know," Mitsui said, rolling his eyes, "I just want to change the colour a little. You look like you're dead in black."

Koshino took a look at himself before he ran after Mitsui who was already out the office door, planning their next course of action.


~~~~

A few minutes after the agreed time, Koshino saw Chris walking towards the Indian restaurant a block away from the Kanagawa Cafe.

"There he is," Koshino hissed, sliding himself low in his seat.

"Where?" Mitsui asked, popping open the tab of the can of soft-drink in his hand.

"There," Koshino said, motioning with his finger, "The one with the long hair."



On the other side of the road, Chris had to check thrice to make sure he has gotten the right place before bringing himself into the restaurant. It was the only Indian restaurant to be found in that area but since he has never been there before, he was a little hesitant to enter as there was no sign otuside to show him that it was indeed a restaurant save for the wide glass windows that showed him people eating inside and waiters in red waistcoats with black bowties to take orders.

As soon as the young man with shoulder-lengthed hair walked in the restaurant, an Indian man in a waiter's attire appraoched him and asked him something with his foreign tongue.

Chris blinked in puzzlement, "Ano... can you speak Japanese? English?"

The waiter shook his head before holding out one finger and then two.

"Souka," said Chris, holding out two fingers, "For two, please."

The waiter brought him towards a table near the windows a table away from the door where Chris sat down and began reading the menu handed to him. To his consternation, the menu was all in Indian and all he could do was stare at the curly characters in puzzlement. He became all the more uncomfortable when he saw that the patrons in the restaurant were all Indians and he thought he saw some of them looking at him in a manner that made him squirm in embarassment.

Chris turned back to the waiter and signaled at him to leave him for a while and with a sympathetic grin, the waiter complied.

After fifteen minutes of waiting Koshino has still not yet appeared and he began to feel impatient and uneasy. He did not know that the person he was waiting for was hiding in a car across the road, feeling nervous at what he made Chris go through.

"What are you doing?" Mitsui asked boredly, looking at Koshino who has burrowed deep that the man was nearly hiding under the seat.

"I think he saw us," groaned Koshino. "How can he see you from there?" Mitsui pointed out in annoyance before he pulled Koshino up so that they were back face-to-face.

"D-Demo..."

"Make him wait for a while," Mitsui told him.

Koshino sighed, "Usually he keeps me waiting for half an hour-" Suddenly the mobile phone in his pocket beeped and seeing from the screen who the caller was, Koshino panicked, "It's him."

Quickly, Mitsui held the phone down so that Koshino couldn't answer if the young man decided to do so.

Back in the restaurant, all Chris got was the answering machine service, "Moshi moshi. This is Koshino Hiroaki. Sorry, I can't take your call right now. Leave your name and number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

"Where are you?" Chris began as soon as the signal to start the voice message sounded, "I'm waiting for you here..."

"It's time to go or he'll leave," Mitsui said, plugging in his head-set into Koshino's phone and have Koshino put on the ear-piece as he stretched the wire to hide under folds of the young man's jacket. "Don't worry, I'll tell you what to say and do."

Koshino gave Mitsui a look of uncertainty.

"Go!" Mitsui barked.


~~~~

Chris has been waiting for nearly half an hour when he saw Koshino walking towards the restaurant from his seat beside the window. When the young man entered through the door, Chris immedietly opened his mouth to say irritably, "What's wrong with you? You're late."

Koshino wanted to cringe but Mitsui's voice from the head-set calmed him down, "Ignore him and take off your coat."

Koshino obeyed and took off his tan overcoat, handed it to the waiter and walked towards the table without a word after smoothing out his new ash-grey-green jacket. It was odd for him to be wearing something different other than his plain dull black suit or casual clothes with colours limited to the favoured black, grey and white but he also felt a sort of elegence that he never felt before with the beautiful armani-cut-like suit that Mitsui picked out for him. The white silk shirt the scarred-face man loaned him felt so comfortable that Koshino wondered why he never bought one instead of the normal cottons that he usually bought even for a night out with his boyfriend.

As soon as Koshino sat down, he heard Mitsui's voice telling him, "Run your fingers through your hair."

Koshino's fingers lifted and began to do just that, running over the soft bangs that was nearly covering his eyes, in one smooth motion.

"Give him a seductive stare."

The young man gave his most seductive look and resisted to flinch at the still annoyed tone coming from Chris, "I've waited for you for half an hour. I still have drawings to complete tonight."

"Go if you're busy." Mitsui said.

"Go if you're busy," Koshino mimicked, giving Chris a small smile.

"I was worried that something could've happened to you," Chris said, his voice softening, "I love you, you know that."

"Now yawn," Mitsui ordered.

Koshino placed his hand over his mouth and faked a yawn, reveling on the put-down look on Chris's face.

"Get the waiter," Mitsui instructed.

The young man put up his hand to give a wave to the waiter to come over. When the Indian man arrived, Mitsui said, "Shajahani Thali."

"Shajahani Thali," Koshino ordered easily.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you how to eat it."

The waiter nodded in acknowledgement and when it was Chris's turn the long-haired man faltered, "Umm... ano... same, same."

Bowing in understanding, the waiter then left with the orders and menus to leave the two men alone. Chris turned his attention back to Koshino to compliment the young man in surprise, "You look different today..."

"Caress your ear," Mitsui told Koshino.

Koshino brought his hand up to let his fingers play with his ear as Chris kept on talking, "You look great..."

"Now touch your neck."

Not looking at Chris to feign disinterest, his hand then dropped to slide down his neck in a lingering caress before it fiddled with the lapel of his silk shirt.

"Hmm," sniffed Chris, "Is your cologne new?"

"Slide your hand down your chest."

Koshino did just that similiar to the action of smoothing out his suit, keeping his eyes away from Chris as if his attention was else-where. If he turned his head at that moment, he would've seen the long-haired man's face blush at the supposedly innocent but secutive action.

"Koshino, hold on. I've got another call," Mitsui suddenly said.

In the car, Mitsui answered the incoming call, "Moshi moshi."

"Hisashi-kun? Where are you?" Eri's voice came through the line.

"I'm in front of Kanagawa Cafe," the scarred-face man answered in surprise.

"That's perfect!" Eri said happily, "I'm at the Fresh Juice Bar. Can you come here?"

"But I'm busy at the moment," Mitsui told her, his eyes turning to see Koshino and his boyfriend still at their table beside the window.

"Last time you asked me if I still love Joe? Do you want to know the answer?"

Mitsui bit the upper part of his lip and hesitated before saying, "Hold on."
Switching back to Koshino's call, he heard Chris say, "...an artist needs his personal creative space..."

"Touch his hand," Mitsui ordered.

Koshino nearly jumped at Mitsui's sudden come-back but he quickly schooled his face into an expression of ease as he held out his hand to gently trace Chris's upper hand with a fluttering touch of his fingertips.

"...but it's different when two people live together..." Chris's voice weakened when Koshino touched him teasingly, "...It-It could spark more inspiration..."

"Play with his feet using yours."

Chris gasped when Koshino brought the sole of his foot forward and let it slide up and down the length of his leg while keeping eye contact with him. The other young man was pleased to note that Chris's eyes now held a spark of desire.

"Nibble your lips."

The young man obeyed, bitting at his lower lip to create a nice flush to the already pink surface. As an added measure he brought his hands up to rest his elbows against the table and began nibbling his index finger from the hand which was supporting his chin. By that time Chris was deeply aroused, and his fingers clenched at the table cloth as he quickly picked up his glass of water to down it in one gulp.

"I didn't know you could make yourself look so sexy," Koshino heard Mitsui chuckle.

Suddenly remembering his ex-wife on the other line, Mitsui said to Koshino, "Hold on."

"My client is flirting with me and I can't tell him off," Eri spoke at once.

"What?" Mitsui steamed, "Where are you? Are you okay? I'll come right away."

"He just stepped out, he should be back any minute now," Eri said.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Mitsui told her.

"Don't hang up yet," the young woman pleaded sweetly, "Let's chat."

Back in the restaurant, the waiter arrived with the dish before staring at Chris's lap pointedly. The long-haired man flushed and quickly brought a napkin to cover his arousal, trying desperately to keep his passion under control. It was the first time in his life that a man has made him lose control of himself and he did not think that it would be Koshino to do so.

"Koshino, I've got something to do. You can take care of him now," Mitsui came back again through the ear-piece.

Koshino blinked. "Nani? What should I do?" he whispered.

At that moment Chris looked up and Koshino quickly gave him a smile which the young man gave back in return.

"He won't leave with the way you're turning him on," Mitsui assured him, "Just believe in yourself."

Koshino looked outside and saw Mitsui getting out of his car to walk quickly towards another block of restaurants away from his line of view. Immedietly, Koshino felt all alone even with Chris sitting in front of him giving him the most loving look he has ever seen Chris give. He suddenly began missing Mitsui's voice that he has forgotten his ignorance on eating the multi gravy dish which was sitting in front of them to eat. At that moment, Chris's cellular phone beeped and the young man picked it up to answer, "Yeah, what's up?"

Koshino saw Chris take a glimpse of him before the long-haired man averted his eyes to the table as he continued with the call, "I'm busy right now. We'll talk later."

Even knowing that it might be the other guy Chris was seeing on the other line failed to make Koshino feel any pain. Boredly, he began scooping up the different gravies and mixed them up on the palm of his hand.

"I don't want to argue with you. It distracts me from work," Chris was saying, "I need to work! We'll talk later."

When he hung up on the caller, Chris looked at what Koshino was doing and followed suit. As he was busy mixing his portion of the gravy on his hand, he explained to Koshino, "It was my assitant, that moron. He kept on disagreeing on this one project we are working on."

"Hm," Koshino nodded.

"Hey, I just bought a couple of new CDs. Let's go up to my place later and put them on," Chris suggested before he gave Koshino dazzling smile, "I love you."

Koshino smiled. In a second he was grounding his gravy-filled palm onto Chris's face.

"Save it for you and your other boyfriend, Chris," growled Koshino, getting up before snatching his overcoat from the coat hanger. Leaving the shocked newly ex-boyfriend with a feeling of disgust, he stomped out of the restaurant in anger, "'I love you' my foot."



Every step that Koshino made away from Chris made him feel better and better and soon he was nearly skipping down the pavement, oblivious of the appreciative glances sent his way. A few blocks later, he was passing by a fresh juice bar when he saw through the windows Mitsui sitting down at a table with an attractive short-haired woman. Looking closely the young woman was playing with Mitsui's foot while they were joking and he was surprised to feel a glimmer of jealousy at their obvious intimacy.

"I'll answer that next time," Eri said.

Mitsui chuckled, "Okay."

Eri smiled and was about to pick up her glass of juice when she saw a familiar looking young man look at her and Mitsui through the window from outside. Leaning to hold Mitsui by the arm she said, "Your friend from work?"

Mitsui turned and smiled at Koshino when he recognised the young man, "Yeah."

Koshino smiled back and when Mitsui began motioning for him to come in, the young man outside shook his head vigorously. Stanging up, Mitsui went out to meet Koshino after he told his ex-wife, "I'll be right back."

Eri nodded, "Aa."

Once outside, he asked the young man in the tan overcoat, "How did it go?"

Koshino shrugged caressly, "I dumped him."

Mitsui smiled, unable to not feel pride at Koshino's choice of action, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Koshino grinned before the smile disappeared when he took a peek through the window at Mitsui's companion who was looking at them with interest.

"Then... join us for a drink?" Mitsui offered when he saw Koshino looking inside.

"Iie, it's okay," Koshino declined quickly. They stood outside like that together in silence when Koshino suddenly realised that he was twisting Mitsui's head-set wire around his fingers.
"Oh yeah, this is yours," Koshino said, handing the head-set to Mitsui, "And I'll give you back your shirt later."

"Yeah, sure," Mitsui replied, taking his accessory back from Koshino.

"I'll go now," the young man said, before turning and walking quickly away, "Ja ne!"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mitsui called out loud.

"Yeah!" Koshino answered without turning around, "I'm fine."

A few metres away, Koshino quickly made his way across the road when a taxi nearly hit him from the front. The young man jumped back in surprise but instead of feeling shocked at the near hit, his hand began itching to clean the light green vehicle of it's one-inch dust.

"Watch it mister! You could get killed running around the street like that!" yelled the taxi driver from behind the wheel. The young man did not seem to have heard him as Koshino began wiping the side of the taxi with the sleeve of his new overcoat. Annoyed, the taxi driver drove off in a huff, "Baka."


~~~~

As soon as Mitsui sat back down on his seat, Eri said, "I think he likes you."

"Well, err... I like him too," Mitsui arched an eyebrow at her.

"Not that kind of like, baka," scolded Eri laughingly, "As in like-like."

Mitsui blinked his blue eyes in puzzlement before he snorted, "Nonsense! It's hard for him having just broken up with someone."

"You sound pretty close with him," commented Eri.

Mitsui turned his eyes away from her speculative gaze and said gruffly, "What are you getting at? That's ridiculous."

Still not looking at the short-haired woman, the scarred-face man picked up his drink and mumbled the words again, "That's ridiculous" as if he was trying to assure her. If he had known better he was actually trying to assure himself.